Can't get music out of my head...

[akashic610]

I have only been steadily meditating for 4 days. Tonight will be the 5th day. I have been focusing on the sensation of air going in and out of my nostrils; my breath. Whenever my focus begins to stray towards chatter, I return it to my breath. I noticed that no matter how concentrated my focus is there is always music playing in my head. Whether it's a song I heard in the day or just a song I know of, it's there. The sound and words of the music bring up images/memories that I associate with the song. Then, based on the emotions of these images/memories, I begin to chatter. I am able to stop the chatter and return to my breath, but the song remains there; or it will change to another song, and the process will repeat itself not long after I return to my breath. I don't strain to focus on my breath I just calmly acknowledge that I began to chatter, then return to my breathing. Is this normal? Am I practicing correct meditation by doing so?

Should I be able to completely eliminate the images and the music that plays through my head also? It seems that right now no matter how sharp my focus is on my breathing that there's still faint images and music in my head. Sometimes they're stronger than other times.

I'm thinking of alternating my points of focus. Like sometimes I'll focus on the breath as it goes in and out of my nose. Other times I'll focus on the sensation of air entering and exiting my body, causing my abdomen to expand and sink. And then I'll also try focusing on the entire travel of the breath. Good idea?

Thanks for the guidance.
Much love.

[ButterflyWoman]

*pretends to be Kylie Minogue* I just can't get you outta my head...

;)

Okay, this will sound silly, but you need a "brainwipe" song. That's a song that you sing to yourself or listen to, and it wipes out whatever song was in your head, BUT it doesn't stick, itself. Ones that I've found to work are:

R. O. C. K. in the U. S. A.
The Mighty Quinn
Valleri

There are probably others, so experiment. ;)

Okay, that being said (and it really does work to get stuff out of your head), you might consider using a mantra of some sort when you meditate. This can be almost anything. It doesn't have to be a word, it can just be a rhythmic sound. It can be a short phrase. What you do is get the mantra you want to use and just say it over and over quietly in your head. Really feel the sounds of the word, all of the consonants, vowels, syllables, etc. Really let it fill your head. Just over and over and over. When something else pops into your head, just very gently put it aside and return your attention to the mantra.

See if that helps. :)

I actually like to listen to music while meditating. I use a good set of headphones and I deliberately choose music that doesn't have words, or which has chantlike sounds (I actually have a few CDs of chants of various kinds just for this purpose), and then I let it fill my head. I find that the music doesn't interfere with my ability to go into a trance at all, and it gives a focal point for my all-too-frequently wandering mind. ;)

[anotherone]

I am so keeping an eye on this thread. I work retail, and right now we are playing a CD of about 20 brutally average Christmas songs and will continue to do so until after New Year's. Needless to say, I am having this same problem. >:|

[akashic610]

Just finished a quite satisfying meditation session. I went through with this before reading your post, so unfortunately I was unable to put your method into practice, OlderWiser. I will be sure to put your suggestions to practice.

I noticed tonight that there doesn't seem to be any connection between the music in my head and the images in my head. However, the images do many times cause me to chatter. I persistently, yet calmly, bring my attention back to my breath. It may very well be that the images and the music are connected but I am unable to understand their connection at this time.

It seems like when I return to my breath, the thought ends on it's own. Rather than stopping it with what you may call force, returning my attention to my breath seems to cause the thought to fade away.

I meditated for exactly 40 minutes tonight. Despite having to return to my breath many times, tonight was an exceptional experience from my standpoint. Around 3/4ths into the meditation, I all of a sudden felt a surge, a considerably intense rush, run through my body. Although this was felt to an extent in my entire body, it seemed to be strongest around my head, neck, and upper shoulders. Keeping my attention on my breath all of a sudden became different. I hesitate to say it became more difficult although at first it seemed so, and this is because even though the focus on it seemed to become weaker it was as if it was unnecessary to even focus at all. I can't recall having any music running through my head during this time. Images still popped up in my head, yet there was something different about them. They seemed more real. I guess you could say they got bigger, and they were more real in a sense that's hard to put into words. Definitely more detailed. It's hard to say, all I really know is that there was something different about them. Like I said, it didn't seem like I even needed to focus on my breath much at this point yet I still did. The chatter was no longer chatter. All of a sudden as I was experiencing this rush around my head a very distinct, powerful statement was made in my head concerning the idea of Christ. It was very different than the usual chatter that tries to sneak into my attention. The way the words were stated seemed more intelligent. That's the best way I can describe them. I cannot remember exactly what was said. Something of the topic of Christ though as I remember the word Christ being used. I believe it was something about me as a being of Christ, and if I'm not mistaken, it was stating this to inform me that what I experienced is normal. This experience did not last long at all. The rush I felt calmed down, and the words about Christ ended. The meditation seemed to return to what it usually is for me, although I seemed to be able to focus on my breathing through my nostrils a little easier. Just thought I'd share that with you, as I am very pleased with it. Anybody else experience anything similiar?

[Korpo]

Hello, akashic610.

Have you ever considered that the songs that stick might carry a message for you?

For me it is like this - sometimes I get signs through songs. Whole series of songs from my randomly played MP3 collection (> 2000 songs) often contain messages. If a line keeps repeating in your head, it might be a message. I had this happen very often to me during the last months, and I guess it is a variant of synchronicity.

About spontaneous thoughts, images, sounds and music during meditation - don't freak out about them. They happen. In my meditation with energy I often trigger associated phenomena - if you dissolve energetic blocks, sensations arise. The thoughts, the emotions, the sensations - they are old, of no more relevance. As Bruce Frantzis says - 95% of everything encountered in meditation is irrelevant and just coming up while being resolved and finished.

What is important is the energy. If you stay focused on the underlying energies, if you follow them to their conclusion, if you trace them back to their origin and untie your inner knots, then things *will* resolve. If you stay with the energies, all the chatter and other stuff will fade in and fade out, just getting lost in such distractions can make it a problem.

A meditation focus on breath or on energy should be maintained, and all the rest will vanish as it came. It stays longer the more attention we pay to it - so freaking out about distractions increases distraction, gently returning to your focus and accepting the fact that distractions happen usually make them go away. I know it is harder with mental chatter, but mental chatter goes fairly quickly, too, if you don't fall into its trap, where it assigns itself more and more importance.

The rush you had - was it an upward surge? Where was its center?

Oliver

[akashic610]

Yes, now that I think about it, it was an upward surge. The center of it definitely was my head.

Yeah I don't freak out about any of the chatter, I just return to my breathing. It just seems like I have to do this a lot at this time.

I never really considered that the songs may contain messages. Thinking about it now I do not see how they could but I'll consider this today when I meditate.

I do know that most of the images that pop up in my head are of people, places, or things in my life. These images tend to trigger mental chatter about the image. For example, if the image or thought of a person pops up in my head I noticed my mind likes to chatter about what I think about this person. It also tends to trigger another image to pop up of an event I may have experienced with this person. Many times the past event brings about feelings of fear, guilt, and/or anger. The mental chatter usually condemns the person I experienced the event with as if it's his or her fault that it was the way it was. Also, when am image or thought of a person comes up I notice that the overall personality and ideals of the person are thought of, followed by mental chatter that condemns the person's ideal. If it's not a person I feel anger towards then the chatter seems to just be random remarks about him or her. Of course, I don't let the chatter get very far at all without returning to my breath. It doesn't stop when I do this, it kind of just fades away.

What exactly was the surge that I experienced?

[Korpo]

In your mind many blocks exist that shape your personality, your ego. If these blocks weren't, you would live spontaneously in the now, all the time. Your behaviour would always be conscious. No automatic reactions.

When you meditate you get in touch with those blocks again. These are the experiences where you have an inner conflict. Where reality is not like your ego wants it. Similar behaviour compounds this. The experiences interlink. Similar situations where you received some damage or perceived setback get added to any initial trauma. You get more involved in that inner conflict. Awareness gets lost, behaviour turns to automatic.

Now you sit down and meditate. By tuning in into energy and or breath your awareness is put into your inner world. Your mind follows the energies and starts to dissolve them. As the energies unravel, old sensations can be triggered again. The old emotion might rearise, images, perceptions, sensations of all kind might arise. This is the point where you can become enthralled in them or let them go.

The chatter voice you heared is your ego, or at least aspect of it. It comments everything that is going on, judging, judging, judging. The inability of the ego to let go is why the knot was there in the first place. When you let go and stay with the energy you start to release the old, stale energies and reestablish inner flow and your deeper nature gets revived. The chatter fades as your awareness is not given to your ego. You are not your ego, but often chose to hand over your awareness to let it fuel the ego. In meditation you have literally the conscious choice to focus inward and let go and let your awareness revive your inner world.

This is hard at first. Fueling the ego is a habit of decades. You are even unused to perceive yourself as separate from the ego. When this sinks in, your meditation becomes more powerful and deeper. I think you are doing well.

The energy surge? Could have been a Kundalini surge or something similar. Was it a bother to you?

Take good care,
Oliver

[akashic610]

Thanks for the advice, Oliver. It's comforting to know that someone besides myself thinks I'm doing good.

The surge was definitely not a bother to me. It was somewhat intense, and I was unfamiliar with the sensation, so it startled me. But definitely not bothersome. Whatever it was that went through my head during the short experience, that I mentioned in my earlier post on this topic, seemed to comfort me to the point where I wasn't afraid of the surge at all. As unfamiliar as it was, I almost welcomed it. My focus on my breath seemed to be very centering even though it actually seemed less focused. I think it was actually more focused. It didn't keep the thought that I had from entering my head during the surge, but it was a soothing thought; it seemed of a totally different nature than the usual mental chatter. The surge didn't come all at once with one intensity, either. It seemed to start off very faint, but quickly got stronger, seeming to rush upward towards my head, within 5-10 seconds the surge was at it's climax; the strongest that it got. That lasted for maybe another 5-10 seconds, maybe a little more. Then in the same manner it built up to the climax, it faded away, also in about the same amount of time, until everything was back to "normal".

[Korpo]

Not every thought in your mind stems from the ego. I have at times received messages that came as my "own" thoughts. They have a special feeling about them, something resonates differently, you simply know they are different. Intuition, guidance, Higher Self - I cannot say what exactly that is, but the soothing, comfortable quality, accompanied by the energy surge and everything around the experience seems to be suggestive of this.

Take good care,
Oliver

[Freawaru]

My focus on my breath seemed to be very centering even though it actually seemed less focused. I think it was actually more focused.


Sounds to me like a level of what the Catholics call tranquility. sanskrit "samatha", tibetan "zhine", calm abiding, Peace, Stillness. First step to the famous "one-pointedness".

Can't say much about the "Christ thoughts" but I, too, think they origin at a higher level of yourself. What does "Christ" means to you?

[Freawaru]

Oh, and that music you hear in your head is perfectly okay. You can easily switch it into a mantra by listening to a mantra (or prayer) as if it was music. There are some on CD. This is actually how the mantra meditation is done. It is the last sound you should hear in your head before sleep and the first to reappear when awaking. Can even penetrate into sleep and dream, thus providing a second "mode" that helps with staying lucid.

Your mind seems to already know what to do. Let it happen. :-D

[akashic610]

To me, Christ is the person God intends for me to be. Christ is the Son of God, which what I am. Man is the Son of God. The more in touch a person is with the Truth that man is an individual expression of God, and that man is part of the Whole, part of the Infinite, the more Christ-like they are.

[ButterflyWoman]

To me, Christ is the person God intends for me to be. Christ is the Son of God, which what I am. Man is the Son of God. The more in touch a person is with the Truth that man is an individual expression of God, and that man is part of the Whole, part of the Infinite, the more Christ-like they are.

That's very insightful. I feel the same way, actually. To be Christlike is to be one with God, to be a true child of God. :)

[Freawaru]

To me, Christ is the person God intends for me to be. Christ is the Son of God, which what I am. Man is the Son of God. The more in touch a person is with the Truth that man is an individual expression of God, and that man is part of the Whole, part of the Infinite, the more Christ-like they are.

:-D